Pride
by loathsome child
Summary: Because Sasuke has always been attracted to things that are detrimental to him. One-shot. NejiSasu.


**A/N**: I'm not so sure about the quality of this, simply because I've never written anything like it before. It came to me when I was feeling really depressed, and to be honest, writing this just depressed me even more.

**Rating**: M, just to be safe. Mild swearing, mild violence, and sexual content. Also, incest, I suppose... (The Hyuuga's and the Uchiha's are distant cousins.)

**Pairing**: NejiSasu

--

There were so many lonely kids in Leaf. It was a wonder there weren't more traitors.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The words felt foreign on her tongue as she spoke them. Nobody talked about him much anymore, as if pretending he had never existed would ease his betrayal. That was true, at least, until he had returned.

"Until we have reached a decision regarding your punishment, I am leaving you in the custody of ANBU."

Dark grey eyes peered up at her from where he knelt on the floor. Tsunade met his eyes, expecting them to be dead and stagnant and full of wasted nothingness.

They were for the most part, except in the places they weren't.

Those places showed a hidden remnant of an old Sasuke, a childish, arrogant Sasuke that kept his back straight and his head held high, even when kneeling in front of the Hokage of a village he had betrayed so long ago.

--

"There are lots of people on your side, Sasuke, people who think the death penalty is too strict. There's a huge debate going on in the village, that's why you've been in here so long. But I think things are going to turn out okay, I really do."

His answer was silence, like it had been the day before and the day before that. Like it had been for a whole number of weeks since his return and incarceration, and nothing that either Naruto or Sakura would say had ever changed that.

"Please, Sasuke, how long are you planning on staying like this?"

Behind the bars, the dark shape shifted. Sakura knew he had his back facing her; he always did when she and Naruto came to visit. He hadn't even looked them in the eyes since his return.

"Naruto worked so hard to save you and you don't even speak to him! He hasn't slept in weeks, Sasuke, and he hardly eats... You're killing him!" The tears were becoming difficult to hold back now.

"Is this what you want, to just sit here locked up like an animal and rot away all by yourself?!"

Her footsteps echoed as she ran, fading away from Sasuke's consciousness.

Neither of them had ever managed to stay for very long. Sakura always tried to reason with him and then got frustrated, bursting into tears before running off to find comfort in someone like Naruto or Kakashi.

Naruto's visits were worse. He would pretend to be cheerful at first, talking to Sasuke and acting as if there was nothing wrong. But eventually he would yell, and sometimes he would sit down and cry and refuse to leave Sasuke's cell, so that Kakashi would have to come and carry him home.

On one of these occasions Sasuke made the mistake of looking at Kakashi. He'd expected hatred. He'd wanted it, he'd needed it. Instead, all he'd seen in his teacher's eyes was disappointment and pity.

He breathed a sigh of relief and lowered himself down onto the small cot in his dark and slightly damp cell. He knew Sakura was crying, but it wasn't his fault. He had never asked to be saved.

--

He was asleep when a man donning an ANBU mask entered his cell, the dark black tattoo contrasting sharply against his pale, bare shoulder.

Sasuke may have had his chakra sealed, but he was still a ninja. He was awake the minute his cell door slid open and someone stepped inside. He continued to breathe regularly in an attempt to feign sleep, and after sneaking an initial quick glance at the man, kept his eyes shut against his pillow.

_What's going on? Why is ANBU here? Have they reached a verdict?_

No one ever would have believed the way Uchiha Sasuke slept had they not seen it for themselves, and very few had. Neji had to keep himself from chuckling as he entered the cell. Uchiha Sasuke, infamous traitor of Konohagakure, prodigy of Orochimaru and murderer of his older brother, slept curled up, knees pulled to his chest and arms hugging himself protectively.

Almost like something fragile.

"Uchiha, I know you're awake."

Sasuke thought he might recognize that voice, but it was hard to know for sure. With all the distant memories forcefully awoken by his return and so many people he used to know changed, it was impossible to tell.

He sat up and looked warily across the room to the ANBU member. The Uchiha looked different than he had before, and the differences were glaringly obvious. His hair was mussed and there were bags under his eyes. He'd always been thin, but now the bones protruding from his taut skin looked unhealthy and unnatural.

Sasuke sneered at the man, as if waiting for an answer to a question he'd forgotten to ask.

_What are you doing here?_

Neji took off his mask, long black hair falling into his face. He knew it was against protocol to show your face on the job, especially to an enemy. But everything he wanted to do these days was against protocol. And besides, it might be easier to talk to the Uchiha if he showed him he was a familiar face.

At first Sasuke gave no sign that he recognized the person in front of him. He didn't even so much as blink. But then, whispered as he exhaled, Neji caught a shadow of a word on Sasuke's breath.

"Hyuuga..."

_By God, it talks._

Neji's face contorted into something between a smirk and a grimace as he approached Sasuke. A few steps away he stopped.

"Naruto's been dying to get some sort of response out of you. I'm sure you're aware."

Sasuke's eyes were on the floor. When his face remained expressionless and he gave no inclination of speaking Neji's hands flew to the teen's collar and slammed him into the wall. The Uchiha bit his lip to keep a grunt of pain from escaping him, his eyes screwed shut.

The Hyuuga was kneeling on Sasuke's bed, pinning the Uchiha to the wall by his shirt collar. Sasuke's hands were on the Hyuuga's outstretched arms, nails digging into them painfully.

"And because I _care_ about my comrades, I thought I'd come here and see what the problem was."

At this, Neji's hold on Sasuke's shirt tightened. Sasuke squirmed, glaring at the Hyuuga from behind bitter, fervent eyes.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that pride is a fucking _sin_, Uchiha?"

At this Neji's lips came crashing down on Sasuke's with such force that his head collided with the wall for the second time that evening.

For a moment Sasuke was too dizzy to be shocked or even angry, and he just lay there as Neji bit violently at his lower lip.

The Hyuuga sucked the blood away from the teen's lip with his tongue. Sasuke made a strangled sound and ripped his face away from Neji's, incensed.

"What the _fuck_?" he spat, wishing now more than ever that he had access to his Sharingan.

Neji just tightened his grip on Sasuke and pressed hard against the Uchiha's lips. He smirked when Sasuke opened his mouth to allow his tongue access, and soon Sasuke could taste his own blood on the Hyuuga's warm mouth.

Before long Sasuke was kissing back, gripping the Hyuuga's shirt desperately. Neji had never known someone so ravenous, and the pure amount of need in Sasuke's kisses surprised him. But Sasuke relished in violence, and he had always been attracted to things that were detrimental to him.

Eventually, when both their lips were bruised and swollen, Neji pushed Sasuke back against the wall. He grabbed a fistful of the Uchiha's shirt and straddled him, winding a hand into the teen's hair and pulling painfully so that the Uchiha was forced to tilt his head all the way back.

He lowered his mouth to Sasuke's collarbone and exhaled. Sasuke moaned.

Neji bit at the Uchiha's pallid neck, nipping and licking and scraping pale skin raw.

Eventually he noticed Sasuke opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, as if trying to say something.

Neji raised a slender eyebrow. After all these years he wouldn't be surprised if the Uchiha had finally gone insane.

Panting hard, his voice still heady with arousal, Sasuke managed to choke out a single word.

"Please..."

"Please _what__**, **_Uchiha?"

"Please... hurt me," Sasuke whispered, eyes screwed shut and fists clenched tightly.

Neji smirked. By the end of the night, the Uchiha would be screaming his name.


End file.
